Cousins
by Ruri Kzalt
Summary: A threat arrives in Peach Creek and only three boys are prepared for it. When an unexpected third party places themselves in danger so as to alert said boys to the incoming danger, a hostage situation results. And Eddward Marion Vincent makes the decision to reveal the truth about his family.
1. Prologue

Jack Hart took his job very seriously. He was a mercenary with a full time salary, a handy man that dabbled in all sorts of crime for the people he works under, the ones who created him. So when the Professor they were pursuing gave them the slip, Jack found him. When said Professor needed some persuasion to get him to cooperate, Jack found four very good motivators. When the Professor realized they were bluffing, that he was actually helping them create the thing that he feared, and stopped working; Jack gave him an ultimatum. And when the people he works for grudgingly gave him their consent, Jack "worked on" the Professor until he had extracted everything he possibly could from the man, than he gave what remained to the organ harvesting division.

He was well respected by the people he worked under, so much so that the big boss let him listen in on private conference meetings in order to give his opinion. This is what he had been doing one week prior (?) when it was reported to the highest people that the project was at a standstill only a few days after he had finished with the Professor. And he stood in a corner of the room as the lead on the project stated that they seemed to be making no head way.

* * *

><p><em>"We simply do not have the knowledge or experience needed and we can't just simply replace Professor Utonium. There is no one out there who is as brilliant as he was. He was a one of a kind genius. No one on this planet could possibly even begin to understand his notes let alone improve on them!"<em>

_Jack decided now would be a good time to put in his two cents, so he cleared his throat and stepped forward into the stunned silence._

_"That's actually incorrect," he said, "while the Professor never actually mentioned this to me. When I went through his papers, his past and his family; I came across what could possibly be the answer to your problem. It seems that along with his four daughters, the Professor also stayed in touch quite regularly with a like-minded individual. I came across this knowledge both while tracking him down and during my search to find a motivator for the late Professor. And while interested in following this lead the second time; it proved to be a more time-consuming task than simply finding and threatening his children. As I was interrogating him I was given the privilege of going through all his personal effects that we had, and I came across what appeared to be rough drafts of letters filled with a code rather similar to what he used in his notes._

_"When I began to realize how strong of a man the Professor was, I decided to look him up, in every data base imaginable; and I came across a mention of him in an incident that occurred approximately twelve years ago. Professor Utonium and his then three girls were involved in an incident rather far from their home which involved surprisingly; the predecessor to this very company," he paused here to look at HIM, taking in his blank poker face before continuing, "and all reference on this end was either wiped from the records or not even put on file to begin with. However I was able to find reference to the incident in a federal records building, where I noticed that the only successful part of the "raid" was accomplished by the Powerpuff Girls. The file was mainly filled with the supposed wrong doings committed by this company, but the one thing that caught my eye was an indication of an attempted kidnapping where it seems little was recorded about the victim, at the personal insistence of the Professor." Here he paused again looking HIM in the eyes again, this time getting a result._

_"I am not sure what my colleagues at the time were hoping to achieve with kidnapping," here he closed his eyes as if thinking deeply, before continuing "but I do remember that said child's parents were scientists of very high caliber. My at-the-time equals considered them as helpful and unique as I myself found Professor Utonium to be."_

_Jack Hart allowed himself a slight upwards movement of his lips before going on with his tale, "It is a shame you weren't paying attention to your fellows actions, though I must say it's much more unfortunate that your colleagues weren't very bright. For if they had been they would have attempted to peak your interest on the issue, especially once the Professor and his girls got involved."_

_"Jack," interrupted HIM with one of his now hands covering his eyes, "I understand you're enjoying yourself but could you please get to the point and inform me of what those bumbling idiots overlooked."_

_"Of course Sir," he smirked, "to get to the point."_

_"Please do", mumbled HIM._

_"It appears that the Professor was protecting an estranged member of his family with his actions," he continued; as HIM lowered his hand, "for it seems the boy and by extension his mother, specifically; are blood relatives to the late Brian Utonium."_

_The council room erupted into murmurs as HIM gave Jack an impressed grin. Discussions broke out as to what this could mean before HIM stood, silencing the room and looking back over at Jack._

_"Thank you sir," He began, "now when I realized this I obviously dug further, but it appears the parents caught on to the company's desire to have the two "work" for them. For it appears that they entered the witness protection program, and while that normally doesn't mean anything to me; they've really covered their tracks well, at least when it comes to their child. I've pin pointed the two of them several times, unfortunately heavily guarded; and they disappear when they're done with their work. It takes me a few days to find them again and there's no pattern to their movements. As for the child we' don't even know if it's a boy or a girl, and every letter the professor ever sent out to who I, shamefully, can only assume is this child has its tracks so well covered, that when I lose the trail it takes me four days to pick it back up. Now while I am confident I could give you results if I used my usual methods, I also believe it will take much longer than either you or I wish to wait; what with the project at a complete standstill."_

_"You would be correct in my patience thinning with the utter LACK of forward movement," HIM said, his impressed smile visually giving way to a look of annoyance, "and I am pleased to hear what sounds like a plan in your voice."_

_"Yes Sir, though I'm not sure how possible it is."_

_"If you're worried about the council shutting you down before you start. I believe in rewarding those who get results or at least have a plausible plan to get said results and I believe you deserve my trust with how well you've pleased me."_

_"Thank you again sir. Though I do hope you feel the same way when I return," Jack said truthfully to his boss, "I would like to take Neil Grove and Chester out in order to use Neil's connection with Chester and the other canines, in addition to both of their impressive olfactory systems. I believe this will speed up the process of finding the child."_

_One just knew that those in the room wanted to shut down Jack's request quickly and loudly as their faces turned red. But they held their breath as they watched their Boss contemplate and many buried their faces in their hands as he began nodding his head._

_"I had heard that you had become rather friendly with Grove and his pet. Now understand that that's the only reason I'm Okaying your request to take him and his mongrel out into the world and that you are responsible for any and all of his actions."HIM said._

_"Understood Boss."_

_"Good now let's talk about the rest of your needs and then you can go tell Grove about your "road trip"," an amused HIM said briskly. Jack rolled his eyes before joining his boss and the put out board members in a discussion of what would become his most difficult mission ever._

* * *

><p>Jack was jarred out of his memory by the car he was in coming to an abrupt stop. He sighed as he heard the slamming of the doors on the car behind him and three sets of legs running up to his window which he was obligated to open so as to converse with his cohort.<p>

"Jack! The scents no stronger, Jack, but it doesn't appear to leave again! We're definitely close!" said the excited Neil Grove as his dog Chester barked in agreement.

"Finally. That professor was a tricky one. I knew you would be useful in a discrete way eventually Neil. Now where are we?"

"Just outside of a town called Peach Creek. I figured we'd find a place to set up camp and be twice as thorough now that we're so close."

"I see your blood is being useful again and working with your upper brain today," Jack half-joked.

A nasty perverted grin crossed over Neil's face as he replied, "All thanks to our compromise Jack. It feels good. This whole being-useful-in-the-real-world thing has really shown me that there are plenty of other fun things to do rather than just," here he makes a vulgar gesture that Jack rolls his eyes at," all the time."

"Bravo. You've actually impressed me." Jack said sarcastically as he got out of his car and reached his hand out to scratch his companions German shepherd mongrel behind the ear. He was very grateful he'd been able to make compromises with both trained trackers, for as long as he gave the canine some sort of attention at every meeting the giant refrained from jumping up at him; while Neil behaved for a majority of the day so long as he got a few scattered hours to release his pent up horniness. Both were agreeable concessions in Jack's eyes so long as he did not have to witness Neil's private time. He shuddered as the three of them joined the rest of their team who were awaiting his orders and collected himself before starting in on a discussion of how they should go about their search this time.

They'd agreed to stash the cumbersome vans in discreet areas in order to find any type of hotel/motel that the town had to offer. They'd already come up with their cover story but found that the "town" was actually bigger than they expected and Jack and his team were able to blend in rather well. After a late lunch and making sure Chester was comfortable with the other canines, Jack and Neil set off on their own to do a basic sweep. They'd come to realize that the child they were looking for had to at least be at minimum of thirteen considering the number of years that had passed since the attempted kidnapping, so they'd been doing a quick walkthrough of the local mall or shopping district; in case they found a stronger trail than the letter had. After only finding a weaker version of the scent, both men began their journey back to base; where they gathered Chester and a few of their men in unmarked cars and set off to the post office. At their destination Neil picked up the scent they'd been following for a week (?) and groaned, "We're so close! And he's up to his tricks again!" Now what he meant by that was that the Professor seemed to have some sort of system set up where each time they reached a new post office the scent seemed to cover a great many pieces of mail than they suspected he'd actually sent. Eventually the fake scents expired but not until you were far enough away to be peeved at the distance you'd travelled following a boogey.

So once again the two men and their "seeing eye dog" entered the post office under the guise of setting up a P.O. box for their stay in the town; this gave them a reason to visit the post office multiple times without suspicion arising. As Jack waited in line, Neil stood off to the side plotting all the smells he could while he let Chester breathe as loudly and as deeply as he wanted, oftentimes conferring with each other. By Neil tapping a Morse coded message on his dogs head and Chester responding in the dog snuffle speech that his owner was able to understand and actually speak, but what they didn't converse in so they would appear normal. When done Neil would go and confer with the other search dogs and give them specific leads to follow and report back in on; with him and Chester taking the hardest to follow. They would then split up, the dogs and their humans going in different directions while Jack normally went to the local library to see if he could find anything useful.

* * *

><p>It was growing dark this particular June night, their first in Peach Creek; when Jack become conscious of something irregular to the usual routine …well two abnormal things really. First off Jack had not heard back from ANY of the search teams which meant they were still following a trail; and this was strange because every other time they'd done this at least one of the teams would call in within an hour or two. It had now been approximately six hours since they'd started and no one had called in to say that they'd lost scent. The other strange thing was that Neil had had an hour of private time scheduled…for two hours ago. And while he didn't have to come back to base to take his "break"; he respected Jack enough to let him know when he was beginning and ending said "break". This was to ensure Jack didn't go looking for Neil and scar himself; and so no one would worry andor get their hopes up that a lead had been found. It was just passed seven o'clock and Jack was now beginning to worry.

Then his phone sprang to life.

"Neil!" Jack hissed into the receiver, "Where have yo-".

"Call everyone back and bring the best to my location, Jack" Neil smugly said as he cut Jack off mid-seethe, "'Cause it's a boy."

Jack had stiffened at the first word out of his cell's receiver, but he snapped back into motion at the sound of the click that meant Neil had just hung up on him. Orders came out of his mouth on auto pilot as he got back into the car he'd arrived in, so as to go retrieve some things from the vans they'd left in hiding. Knowing that while he was marshaling the troops on his end; Neil was sitting under some tree typing up all the details of his hunt into his phone so that Jack could read it on the way to the trackers location. As he reached the hidden vehicles he felt a vibration go off in his pocket signaling he was correct in his assumption, and after getting out to give a few more brief orders; he climbed into the back of his automobile and began reading Neil's briefing as another member of his team drove in the direction of the victorious pervert.

Jack had a look of amusement mixed with concern on his face, when the car stopped a few feet from where Neil's signal said he was; for the tracker was lying under a tree relaxing but Chester was nowhere to be seen. Since his partner looked so relaxed Jack didn't worry too much about where the big dog had run off to.

"Where's your mutt?" he called out to the figure under the tree.

"Narrowing down the scent web…and probably chasing a squirrel," Neil grinned over at his partner "He'll be back soon. You get my report?"

"Yea, can you give the rest of them a run-down please?" replied Jack as he gestured to the men beginning to gather around them.

"Just the short version, right?" Neil questioned still not completely confident with using his social skills around humans. After a brief nod, he began, "Alright listen up! You all know that as the most experienced trackers, Chester and I take on the faintest scents and the ones that are tangled up the worst. Well…ummm…ok basically we hit pay dirt. We'd run through all our trails and they'd led to dead ends, so we went back to the post office and sat for a bit then I remembered lesson eighty-five. Twins who were separated at birth tend to have many things in common once they've grown up. So I sorted through for a scent that COULD be the Professors but wasn't; and I found one in the worst, faintest tangled messes that I was saving for tomorrow. We followed it to a junk yard where we found this, "here Neil held up what looked like a piece of scrap metal and he turned it over as he continued, "Which as you can see is covered in gibberish, but I remember seeing this particular symbol in the briefing folder. Turns out, a good portion of the gibberish is part of the code that the Professor used in his notes. I was on my way back to base when I found a particularly recent trail from this mysterious maybe, realized it was pretty late, and gave Jack a call. Figured we could follow this trail. If it led nowhere, ah well. But, if it was a good lead, what better time to sneak around than after dark." Looking over at Jack as he finished, he asked how he did.

"Bit long but not a word wasted," he assured the tracker. Chester had entered the pow-wow at some point and leaned his head against his partner's leg reassuringly, before nipping him so that they could converse over what the German Sheppard had accomplished. Jack took this opportunity to discuss the game plan with his second-in-command. It was decided that Jack would search ahead a bit with the two trackers, while the rest waited for their call. It didn't take very long before they received a brief message from the trio just after eight thirty at night.

"Trail strong, but not completed. Found a potential source of information. Find us outside of the Park n' Flush trailer park and be prepared to gas the inhabitants."


	2. Chapter 1

If she didn't have a crush on the school's smartest student she'd probably have called the sight of the strange trucks ironic. But she did, so she knew better. This was the first thing that crossed through Marie Kanker's mind as she spotted the strange, yet familiar symbol on the mysterious vans parked in and around the trailer park. The second thought to run through her head was more of a realization and it nearly caused her to break out into a full-on panic. Thankfully she was able to fight the urge down and wait until she and her two sisters were closer to home before she swore under her breath and made a scene about the time. The blunette accelerated as she furiously, yet quietly, insisted that she was missing some television show or another.

As she speed walked to their trailer, Marie was grateful to hear Lee and May swearing softly behind her as they quickly followed her, hoping to beat her into the house. But out of the corner of her eye the sight of one of the men glancing in their direction caused her to gasp sharply and quicken her pace. The distance between the bluenette and her home seemed to lengthen and she was convinced that time slowed as her imagination took off racing through hundreds of thoughts before landing on the reason why she was panicking so horribly.

'I wonder if when this whole thing is over Double D will be grateful that my sisters and I stalk him and his friends. Who knew that sneaking into his house in order to lighten his chore load would result in warning him about something I'm not even supposed to know about?' Marie thought as memories flashed through her head.

It all started innocent enough, she'd noticed freshman year that Double D, while still top of the class; was not as pleased with the outcome of his work as he used to be and seemed to be holding up his head more during class, as if trying to stay awake.

Not long after, she and her sisters had overheard a conversation between the three Ed's that had got her thinking…

"_Hey Sockhead, what are you getting so worked up about? You got an 'A' on the damn thing!" said Eddy. "Me and Ed are the ones who should be all annoyed. We haven't seen you in two weeks, and you couldn't even take a break from your work to check over our papers. Look at what we got!"_

_He reached over and grabbed Ed's wrist in order to stuff the two failing papers into Double D's face. The hat-wearing teen wearily lowered his friend's test-clutching fists and looked at his best buddies with clearly sleep-deprived eyes before sighing._

"_I truly am sorry gentlemen, but the increased workload given to us by our teachers on top of my normal household duties has really begun to add up. I have been going to bed later than normal this last week just to get my report done and I wasn't even able to get it to the standard I normally produce." Double D yawned, slumping ever so slightly against the wall Eddy had cornered him beside. _

_This caused a flash of concern to cross the short teen's face before he huffed and turned away while crossing his arms. Their mutual mono-browed friend stepped forward and placed the back of his hand against his exhausted friend's forehead._

"_Are you feeling ok Double D? You look worse than soggy toast." _

_Said teen gave his tall friend a weak smile before reassuring him that he was just overworked and overtired. Ed smiled and nodded while patting Double D on the head before skipping off to his locker with his two friends following him. When Ed was far enough ahead, Eddy nudged his tired friend before speaking._

"_We're just worried about you, ya know. It's like you got so much work to do you don't have any time for us anymore. We're not adults yet Double D! Tell your parents they need to hire a maid or something cause you got enough on your plate with being the perfect student. You can put aside being the perfect son for a few years. I mean we're teenagers for crying out loud! You parents aren't even around, yet they keep making your bad days worse! These are our last years of freedom…" Eddy stopped mid rant when his geeky friend placed his hand on his shoulder, giving him a grateful smile._

"_Thank you Eddy. You are a good friend. Maybe this time I will be the one to take your advice and speak with my parents instead of burying myself in chores and homework. They won't be home for a few more weeks though so you and Ed are going to have to put up with my being 'the perfect son' as you put it; for just a bit longer." At Eddy's resigned face Edd added, "But perhaps the chores do not have to be done as perfectly as I am used to. So long as the house doesn't start looking like Ed's room and my grades do not slip I suppose I can dial down my effort to just the bare minimum. It should be enough to catch up on my sleep and help you two with your work. After all I can't have Ed being held back again or you being kicked out of your house put on my conscience, now can I."_

_Eddy nudged him again as a smile spread across both their faces and the two of them picked up their pace. They never even noticed the green-eyed bluenette, who had been following them even after her sisters had lost interest. _

When school let out that day she'd watched her Dreamboat join his friends at Eddy's house before retrieving his spare key and letting herself into his residence. She'd been shocked by how clean it was, it was even cleaner that when they were kids. Then she found out how it got to be that way and she nearly saw red. For in small pantry off the kitchen, sat a humming fax machine and on nearly every wall in the small room hung all sorts of lists and charts dictating exactly how to keep the house in its current spotless state. As she stood there gawking, the fax machine came to life and began printing. When it was finished she picked up the paper and realized it was a note from Edd's father adding yet another chore to his son's to do list.

Seething, she placed the note back in the fax tray. She studied the machine for a few moments before coming to a decision and then she left.

The next day after making sure Double D had gone straight over Ed's house after school; Marie again snuck into his house and using her own computer paper, methodically copied every single instruction that was hung on those walls. She was so into her work that she'd have been caught if Edd hadn't gone straight upstairs when he arrived home.

From then on "Marie's Cleaning Service" was open for business. She'd sneak into her crush's house and complete all sorts of chores for him that came out of the fax machine, but she always made sure to leave him something so he wouldn't get suspicious and sometimes even reprinted his parents note so it didn't include the chores she completed, but didn't let him feel forgotten.

* * *

><p>It was one day after Christmas vacation of sophomore year that she was upstairs neatening up his room, when she noticed an untidy pile of papers on his desk. Now she always tried really hard to respect his privacy, but if a pile of papers needed straightening she allowed herself a glance at the top sheet.<p>

But on this fateful day she stopped her straightening mid motion as key words jumped off the paper and caught her attention: "DANGEROUS","KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR","GIVE COPIES TO FRIENDS". On top of the paper was a sticky note in Double D's handwriting that said "MAKE COPY OF ATTACHED FOR ED & EDDY. HAVE THEM MEMORIZE ASAP. BEGIN TRAINING TONIGHT." It was pure curiosity that led her hand to flip to the second page of that pile and what she found confused the shit out of her.

The page seemed to be filled with strange symbols, and they even seemed to be organized by level of…did that say threat! A quick flick through the rest of the pile simply informed her that Double D received letters from a friend who thought he was in some sort of danger.

Marie swiftly finished what she had come over for and quickly made a copy of the page of symbols before putting it back in its place, mess and all. After all, Double D's pen pal had told him to give a copy to his friends and even though he might not consider her part of that group, Marie cared about him at least as much as Ed and Eddy did.

So from that day on she kept a copy of that paper in her current sketch book at all times. At home when she finished with her homework, she even sketched them so that they'd be drilled into her memory. Although she never took those sketches to school for fear her Dreamboat would somehow find them.

At the beginning of junior year, Marie had nearly convinced herself that there was no real threat since she never again saw any sign of Edd's pen pal or those symbols anywhere in his house. Still despite her growing resignation, she always made sure to transfer the worn page to each new sketchbook she got, although she was doing it more out of habit then anything, really.

Her growing doubts only lasted until the beginning of spring.

* * *

><p>Now, while Marie was the only sister to actually sneak in and around her crushes house; that didn't mean that Lee and May never snuck into their Ed's room's while the boys were out.<p>

Eddy's room actually had an entrance all its own around the back of the house. And since he rarely ever locked this door, Lee took advantage of the easy entry. When she found out about Marie's little cleaning service she used some of her time in her man's room to keep his walk-in closet neat, but her personal favorite thing to do was to simply lie around and listen to his records, especially if she'd had a bad day.

It seemed Double D was in a group all his own when it came to locking up his house, for while Ed's front door was secured every time the house was empty…that wasn't exactly the boys' main point of entry into the eldest Ed's basement bedroom. And May had taken advantage of her Big Ed leaving his window entry unlocked long before either of her sisters.

Unlike Marie, May made sure to not clean anything and rarely touched any of the boy's mess. She simply made sure that his comic book and movie collections were organized…alright that's a lie. Occasionally she'd make his bed or sort his laundry, but the loveable oaf never suspected the younger blonde; he simply thought his mom had remembered him or that his sister was feeling nice.

At the same time that May was the first to take care of her Ed, she was also the only one who "borrowed" things without him knowing. That's not to say she kept what she took but she did have the same interests as her Big Ed, and not a lot of pocket money. So when she couldn't afford a comic that fortunately her crush owned, she'd borrow said book after he'd finished reading it; and when the roles were reversed she'd leave her just-read comic somewhere Ed would spot it and let him keep it. Eventually she technically owned about a third of Ed's extensive comic book collection and he never suspected a thing.

It so happened that at the beginning of spring, May had just borrowed a few of Ed's comics, which she wanted to reread, on the same day Marie decided to mop the trailer's kitchen floor.

Long squabble short, May fell on the still damp floor and comics went everywhere. A few fell in the bluenette's direction and since she was feeling in a good mood, hence the cleaning of the trailer instead of Double D's house; she bent over and picked them up for her baby sister.

As if in slow motion a piece of paper fell out of a comic that she held in her hand and landed face down on the thankfully dry patch of floor. Lee walked in as her older little sister seemed to go into shock at the contents of the paper she'd just picked up.

"_Yo, Marie! What's with the face?" At her oldest sister's exclamation May looked over at Marie and saw that she had indeed paled. Curious May snuck a peak over the bluenette's shoulder._

"_Oh. It's nothing Lee. Just a reference sheet of symbols that Ed likes to draw." She'd said, causing Marie to snap her attention onto the blonde before gasping out a stunned, "what?!" that made May feel a bit nervous about answering._

"_Well, yea. I mean he never seems to take them out of his room but nearly every piece of paper in his room that's not school related has at least one of those symbols on it."_

"_Do you remember when this started?" Marie spat out._

"_Ummm…sophomore year…before the snow stopped, I guess." Now when Marie paled even further, May actually began to panic, and Lee decided to take things into her own hands, by grabbing the offending paper and scolding Marie._

"_Now quit scaring your little sister Marie. It's just a paper full of doodles." But as she parted her hair in order to get a good look at these "symbols" she froze. "Whoa."_

_Marie turned on the older girl at her uncharacteristic action and instead of asking, "what's wrong?" or "now who's scaring whose little sister?" she simply dead panned._

"_Where have you seen these symbols Lee?" _

_And this shocked the red head into reflexively answering._

"_Eddy's got a paper just like this…buried in the back of his closet." She shook off her shock as she noticed May becoming increasingly alarmed and continued, "Must be from a game the Ed's played last year. It's nothing to freak us out over Marie. Here ya go May. Gotta make sure you put Ed's stuff back where it belongs or he might get suspicious. Now go put those away. When the floor's dry it's our turn to make dinner."_

_She gave the paper back to May and pinched Marie's arm behind their backs until the younger girl had skipped up the stairs. Then blue eyes met green as Lee stared down her remaining little sister before speaking._

"_Now I don't want you going around scaring your little sister anymore but because you seem so freaked out I'll let you in on what I know. Eddy doesn't really have that piece of paper buried in his closet." She paused to watch Marie's face, "he actually has two laminated copies; one in the very top of his nightstand drawer and the other is taped to the back of his closet door. As far as I'm concerned they're just remnants of a game that they played last year and Ed and Eddy simply haven't bothered to get rid of them. I'm assuming that you found a similar paper in Double D's room?" at Marie's nod she asked, "and have you seen it or anything like it in there since?"_

_When Marie shook her head Lee smirked, happy to be proven right._

"_See. Double D was always the neatest of the three, so you're freaking us all out over nothing." When she saw the bluenette bow her head and mutter an apology; the eldest Kanker took that as a sign that Marie was in agreement with her._

Little did Lee know, that all that confrontation had done was solidify in Marie's mind that there really was a possible threat against her ovenmitt's life somewhere out there and the Ed's were already keeping an eye out for it. She was very grateful for this revelation and never doubted them again.

* * *

><p>Especially that June night as she ran into her home, only to turn on the TV, about-face, and shut and lock the door right on Lee and May's heels. Ignoring their stunned faces she ran to the back door and locked it, than she went around the entire trailer, quickly and quietly shutting all the windows and curtains before ending up in her room where she grabbed her sketch book and pencil.<p>

With pencil and paper in hand she paused as she heard the tell tale sounds of their neighbor, Tom's ridiculously loud music blaring, like it always did, but what caused her to pause and pale was that it was ONLY his music playing. Tom's horrendous singing voice was nowhere to be heard. She peaked out of her window and saw what looked like yellow gas pouring out his open windows and a team of dogs standing just outside Tom's trailer door, as if waiting for the smog to clear.

It clicked in her mind as she ran downstairs that whoever those men were, they were using search dogs to look for something and were knocking out the trailer park residence as they went.

The intruders were also wearing a patch with a different; yet also familiar, symbol. And this one scared her even more that the one on the vans.

Thoughts of who or what they were after nagged at the back of her mind, but she would have bet money that these men were looking for the teenage genius, Eddward Marian Vincent.

This one thought caused Marie so much distress that it took a moment for her to realize that the couch she had come to a stop in front of was unoccupied. It took her yet another moment to realize that her sisters had not moved a muscle from the doorway, since they'd entered the trailer.

They stood there stunned as Marie realized what she must have looked like, running around in a flurry, white as a sheet.

She took a deep breath and looked them evenly in the eye, one at a time; before asking them.

"Do you trust me? I am your sister and I love you. Will you trust me even if I sound insane?"

Marie regained some color as she watched May nod her head in compliance. And when the blunette turned to Lee, the red head looked her up and down, before giving her little sister a brief nod.

The middle sister released a sigh of relief, and pushed forward through her explanation, not stopping to make sure they were keeping up; just focusing on being as clear and fast as possible.

"Do you remember that day I freaked over Big Ed's reference sheet with all those symbols? You were right Lee, that wasn't the first time I'd seen them. It was a year earlier and they weren't just anywhere lying next to some game; they were on top of a stack of letters Double D received from a pen pal who believed his life was in danger. Those symbols the men and vans are wearing are high on that sheets threat level. It looks like they've followed a scent trail here. They have a gas that they're using to knock out the others, in order to search through every trailer. Don't believe me? I can't hear Tom singing tonight, can you?" She paused for but a moment as she watched Lee cautiously look out the nearest window, before continuing.

"I'd bet my life they're searching for Double D and…they probably started in town. So when they picked up his scent… it was probably mixed with mine…I took his sweatshirt the other day to wear while grocery shopping… OH shit fucker!" her brain froze at the thought that her sisters and the Ed's were in trouble because of her.

"Oh no you don't! Snap out of it Marie! Maybe they did follow you, That Doesn't Matter Now! You seem to be the only one with a plan, so spit it out." Lee said in a hushed tone as she came back to stand by her sisters. At the word "plan" the bluenette's brain moved into action.

"Yeah, well I don't have any official plan but I'm sure the Ed's do. So our plan is to alert them to what's going on and if possible we should try to stall the idiots outside or at least get rid of their knock out gas…" here Lee interrupted.

"Leave that to me. I'll take ole Jethro out and send them on a wild goose chase. Marie, you'd better write your man a note and add a drawing of those symbols to it. He's the most rational thinking out of our three beaus and will take us seriously. And May…"

Here the two eldest Kanker sisters looked at each other and a silent message passed between the two of them. They knew that if they could help it, those horrible men would never lay a finger on their baby sister.

"MayBird," Marie restarted, turning to face the blonde while using her childhood nickname, "we need you to do the hardest part…. We need you to fly as fast as you can to Big Ed, Ok? He can take you to Double D safely. You're the fastest out of the three of us, so it's got to be you MayBird."

"Yea May, go upstairs and get dressed in as much black as you can."Lee continued, "You're gonna have to be swift and silent on your flight tonight. Take any of our clothes that will help keep you covered."

"And meet me in the bathroom. I'll give you the note there, ok? You can take the 'TunnelEd' so you'll get a secret head start."

May mutely nodded her head before turning to run up the stairs, but without even taking a step forward she turned right back around and caught Lee up in a tight embrace.

"Just stay safe, LeeBee. I love you."

"I love you too MayBird. Fly fast and stay safe." Lee replied and returned the hug, realizing as the blonde used her pet name from when they were kids that their baby sister knew exactly how bad the situation was and exactly what kind of danger her older sisters were saving her from.

May gave the red head one more squeeze than shot up the stairs with a whispered, "Meet you in the bathroom SunRie."

As Lee went to grab their dad's gun; Marie had to rub her eyes dry at the sound of her old nickname before quickly getting started on the note for her Dreamboat. Marie had one of the symbols complete when Lee reentered the room two minutes later, but she stilled her pen at the sight of her older sister holding their dad's shotgun, her hair tied back out of her eyes.

"I figured if you two were taking it so seriously I should too." The elder joked as she walked over to the bluenette, "Marie, I want you to add something to that note. I think Ed should keep an eye on May. I think she'll be safest with him."

"I was thinking the same thing LeeBee." Said Marie as she quickly hugged her sister, "And don't get caught just yet. If we are gonna go down, we're gonna go down fighting together."

"Back to Back SunRie, I swear." Lee said as she headed towards a utility hatch that she could use to sneak out, "that's a promise you gotta keep too."

"Yes Ma'am." Marie whispered to the empty room before gathering her things and heading to where she was meeting May.


	3. Chapter 2

Marie left the bathroom door open as she finished drawing the symbols that she'd seen earlier. The one from the van was a bit more elaborate and she had to make it bigger so that all the details were clear. She knew her note had to be clear and to the point, but she was unsure of how to word it. So she put down her pen and began to uncover the 'TunnelEd'; which was the hole that the Ed's had made in their bathroom floor ages ago. She, Lee, and May had fixed the floor so that it was as if nothing had happened, but they'd kept the tunnel accessible, just in case.

The sister's had even gone so far as to widen and stabilize it; so as to make it easier and safer to use. But it did take a bit of maneuvering to cover and uncover, so she spent those valuable minutes thinking as she worked. And it wasn't long before she'd taken up her pen and began to write out a message for her Ed.

Eddward Marian Vincent, Edd, Double D, Muffin, DreamBoat; June 28; 9:17 PM

Emergency! DANGER! There are men in the trailer park right now that are wearing this (an arrow points to the smaller symbol) and their vehicles have this symbol on them (an arrow points to the larger, more detailed sketch). They appear to have yellow knock-out gas and search dogs…I think they're looking for you, Edd, and it led them to me. I'll explain how I know about the threat symbols later. I swear! Right now Lee's trying to buy us some time and taking out as many of those gas canisters as she can. We're having May take the tunnel you Ed's dug up. She's fastest and least likely to get caught. I sure hope you have a plan cause this is all I got. Lee and I won't go down without a fight but there are A LOT of men out there D. please hurry. Have Ed keep May safe, PLEASE! If you can't get us out of here just keep our MayBird safe! Shit the parks never been this quiet before. I know it doesn't mean much to you but I couldn't live with myself if you got hurt. I don't know what I'd do without you. Stay safe Edd. –Marie Amelia Kanker

Marie reads it over quickly, hoping she didn't miss anything. When she finishes, and there is no sign of May, she reaches into the medicine cabinet and reapplies the blue lipstick that she's been wearing all night. She quickly leaves the impression of her lips right next to her name (just on a whim) before folding the paper up neatly and writing her Muffin's name across the top, once again.

The blunette stiffens when she hears something and in her panic she hurriedly scratches "HELP!" on the reverse side of her note. Suddenly May comes barreling in through the bathroom door and Marie gestures for her sister to help her finish revealing the tunnels opening. As they work together, May updates her big sister on what's going on outside.

"Lee's got them confused, but it looks like they already hit every occupied trailer in the park already. I didn't see her but she was able to take out at least two of the unused gas canisters before they sent men out to search for her. I panicked when I saw them disappear into the woods and picked up the phone, but the lines are dead Marie."

Upon completion of their task, Marie does the only thing she can think of to ease the fear that is audible in May's voice. She grabs her baby sister in a fierce hug and whispers, "Stay strong MayBird. They'll never catch our LeeBee."

Pulling back, green eyes give the brown-eyed girl a once over, before the elder nods at the long-sleeved black outfit the younger has put together. It was concealing but wouldn't trip her on her flight; and in her hand she clutches one of their fathers black ski caps, causing the blunette to smile. Quickly she exchanges the hat for Double D's note and turns the other girl around, in order to make sure that the hat properly hid May's hair.

"Alright MayBird," Marie began as she gathered her sisters blonde hair and tucked it into the hat.

"You need to get to Big Ed as quick as you can. Convince him to take you to Double D; if you need to show him the note, go ahead. But YOU must be the one to deliver it to Double D, got that."

She pauses in order to witness May's nod of understanding before pushing on, "I want you to listen to Double D and stay close to Big Ed. I've asked them to keep you safe."

Again on a whim she adds in a sharp commanding voice, "Now repeat your mission soldier!"

May snaps to attention just like their dad taught them to and barks out, "Fly fast and stay hidden. Get to Big Ed's and have him take me to Double D. He can see the note but can't have it. It goes from my hands to Double D's only. Then I am to stick close to Big Ed and take my orders from Double D."

As she finishes, the blonde is swept into another hug by her big sister, who whispers, "I love you MayBird. We're so proud of you."

"I love you too SunRie. Stay safe for me, ok?" she replies as she lowered herself into the tunnel.

Marie nods as she begins to lower the bathroom floor back into place, but before it's completely closed she adds, "And May. Don't turn back, ok. Get our warning to the Ed's."

And with that, she shuts her kid sister into the dark tunnel. Marie hopes that the safety flashlight is still down there as she starts to put the bathroom back together.

She had just hidden her writing things when she hears footsteps rushing through the trailer, heading straight for her. A terrified blunette turns, only to meet the sight of a gun-less Lee framed in the doorway. At that Marie nearly cries out in relief before quickly embracing her shaking sister.

"May gone?" Lee questions.

"Like she wasn't even here."

"Good. Let's get away from the bathroom so they don't suspect it." Lee says quietly as she shuts the bathrooms light off. Together the two sisters return to the TV room.

"It's quiet." Marie whispers.

"Yeah. I managed to convince them that some of the empty trailers were inhabited. I'm pretty sure they used up the KO gas on my fake leads, but that means they pulled the ones 'chasing' me in the woods back to the park."

"Great, that means they'll be here any minute."

"Yup, so we gotta be prepa-" Lee is cut-off as Marie suddenly lets out a horrified giggle, "what the hell are you laughing at?"

"I just realized that May wasn't wearing shoes when she left."

Lee palms her face as Marie weakly chuckles out, "None of us own any sort of practical black foot wear. She followed our instructions to the letter; she was even wearing black gloves."

At this Lee cracks a smile before whispering.

"At least she won't be easy to spot. Oh MayBird, you idiot."

Approaching footsteps fall through the sister's attempts at lightening the atmosphere and cause the two teens to stiffen briefly, before moving into action.

Grabbing up three baseball bats from beside the couch, Marie sets them on the coffee table, as Lee opens up a drawer and retrieves both of their dad's sets of brass knuckles. They meet back up in the center of the room with their anti-burglary implements and stand back to back; one facing the front door, the other facing the kitchen, where the back door is located.

A knock rings through the trailer before a very professional voice breaks through the silence.

"Hello in there. We know this trailer is occupied and we simply have some quick questions that need to be answered tonight. So sorry about the late hour. We won't take up too much of your time."

The Kanker's look at each other, grudgingly impressed with the voice.

If the girls weren't in the know, they probably would have, at the least; answered the stranger's questions through the door. But they knew that any information they gave could (and probably would) be used to hurt their loved ones, so they answered with their normal teenage attitude.

"Uh-huh. And I suppose that gas you were using on our neighbors was just to get them to cooperate, huh?"

"And cutting the phone lines was just so you could get their honest opinions, right? Guess you got lucky that cell service sucks in the park or you'd have had to scramble that too."

During the time that it took for Lee to shoot Marie a startled look at this new information; the calm voice responds.

"Well I should let you know that there are now two options. We can do this the easy way or the hard way."

Under freckled cheeks, matching smirks turn into leering grins as both girls snort.

"Yeah, cause that's a really tough choice for two teenaged girls to make when the park they live in is full of strange, unknown men; who just so happen to carry knock out gas and have cut off all contact to the outside."

"We sure as hell aren't gonna answer any of your fucking questions, but if you insist, we've got nothing against taking out a bunch of no-good, good-for-nothing goons."

"We're not backing down without a fight, asshole."

"So unless you're gonna leave, bring it on you 'tards."

There was silence for just a moment, before the calm voice sighs and says, "Very well. The hard way it is."

The girls aren't able to make out his next words, but the sound of their back and front door groaning in unison to a first strike rings through the park.

Knowing they had but seconds left, blue hair meets red as the sister's backs touch. And for a moment they comfortingly lean against each other, before straightening into their fighting stances, and facing the invading men head on.


End file.
